When I first heard a few years ago that a team of developers were about to launch a Kickstarter to raise enough funds to bring a sequel is still considered one of the worst video games of all time my eyes rolled. In fact since the announcement in 2014 I had completely forgotten about it only to be surprised further that the fund raising campaign had been a success and yup, Shaq Fu – A Legend Reborn was finished and ready to launch across all modern consoles. So the only questions that remained were was this going to redeem the original game or could it actually be worse?

Back in the 90s Shaquille O’Neil was a famous US Basketball player and someone making a video game with him as a star kind of made sense thanks to the power his name and brand would bring to it. In 2018 however there is arguably less power to his name and many of this gaming generation would not know either his name or the original game he starred in. It is very evident when you look at any off the marketing for this game that the infamy of the first Shaq Fu is being used to gain interest via the notoriety of it being considered one of the worst games ever. It does have to be said that this spiritual sequel is a huge departure from the original in that gameplay now shifts to an old school side scrolling beat-em up like Final Fight than the original as well as moving into a full animated cartoony art style over the very 90s digitised charter style as seen in the original Mortal Kombat.

Story wise this game is just as ludicrous as the original game just turned way up in the ‘bat crap what the hell is going on’ level of weirdness. Our hero Shaq was abandoned as a baby but then found and raised by a Chinese woman but suffered bullying as he grew up due to his tremendous tallness. Then an  old Chinese Kung Fu master took it upon himself to train Shaq in martial arts when one day he is forced to defend his village from demon warriors and after winning is told about the threat to the world from demons who have taken the form of celebrities and only Shaq possesses the power and skills to defeat them and their minions and save the world. Sounds straight forward enough right?

Not even fifteen minutes into the game and already I can sense this game is going to have issues and this begins with the tone of the humour in the opening cut-scenes. This is a game that has clearly been inspired by the recent Deadpool game which got the balance of comedy and fourth wall breaking so perfectly right but here the developers got the mix so badly wrong. Shaq’s martial arts mentor, Ye Ye, is quickly portrayed as a possible child molester and deviant in his dialogue as he speaks to Shaq and it is pure cringe to watch. This is a game full of adult humour and whilst some can be eye rolling funny and a little self deprecating, it also misses the mark hugely in some respects making it fall flat in a lot of places. It is humour that was big in the 90s but not so much now and this is not even from a PC soapbox kind of way but just in a totally ‘no need for that’ level of jokes that does not help a title that is already struggling up hill.

Visually the animation and art style are really well done with very quirky enemies and boss encounters with cut-scenes that could easily be spliced together to make an animated short. Each of the stages are colourful and vibrant on screen as Shaq moves from China, to Hollywood and beyond as his adventure takes him across the world in search of the demonic celebrities. The style of each stage do make them stand out and the art style of enemies compliment each other well as in the later stages enemies from previous ones will combine to gang up on Shaq. Audio effects work really well and you do get some very satisfying Twhack sounds when beating up enemies and the soundtrack does drive each of the stages on quite nicely.

Gameplay is pretty much you standard run of the mill side scrolling beat-em up action which does become very repetitive after a very short time. Shaq will punch and kick his way and after building up enough combo strength can summon his massive magical size 22 training shoe to do extra damage to multiple enemies. The game will simply throw enemies at you in large numbers in order to try and overwhelm the player which for the first few stages will not offer any real challenge until the later stages when the variety of enemy types from all the stages are brought together and thrown in your path. Objects can be picked up and used as weapons with most being overly effective and there is a nice touch in that some weapons will launch enemies into the TV screen. The action is fast paced as you work towards the boss fight from that stage. At timed moments in the game Shaq can collect two very special power ups in the form of a mechanised suit of armour and a Cactus suit giving him the ability to just destroy every enemy on screen very easily indeed. As a fan of old school beat-ems like Streets of Rage, Final Fight and Golden Axe for example, the gameplay was familiar and enjoyable for the most part until the issues all started to creep in.

But those issues are very frustrating and annoying at the same time especially when the bugs start kicking in. For example hit detection can be really off at times leading to cheap hits on you and in some sections of stages the game failed to trigger the ‘Continue On’ command so I was stuck no matter how many enemies I killed forcing me to restart that stage. Boss fights are very disappointing and they often rely on just being really weird rather than making the fight challenging or fun. The script is as I have said above, very dodgy at times and whilst the fourth wall breaking was refreshing at the start, it all becomes grind to get through and once you have completed the game’s campaign there is literally no reason or incentive to replay it at all. There is some DLC that provides the ability to play as Barack Obhama but even with that, once completed there is still no replay value with this game.

The jokes become tiresome quickly as does the repetitive gameplay and once it is all said and done, Shaq Fu A Legend Reborn is just a game to play through once and becomes easily forgettable far more than the original game. Some care and through has gone into this but there is just not enough here to justify its current price although since release some of the physical versions can be found for under £15 now. My gaming world was not made worse by playing this but it certainly was not enhanced by it and if honest, in a couple of weeks I will probably forget the boss fights, the character names and cannot see me every wanting to play this again.

For the elements this game does get right it has far too many average ones to really make this one to recommend you buy, even if you are intrigued to see how bad it is. Some bad games are worth playing and even fun at times but this is one to forget about until it either shows up on Games with Gold or PS Plus as a free game in a year or so.

The 90s were an amazing time in console gaming for a whole bunch of reasons. For me however it was most notable for the rise of first real platform challenger to the console kings of Nintendo and Sega, the PlayStation. Now Nintendo had Mario and Sega had Sonic so it was not a surprise that another iconic gaming character would make a name for itself on PlayStation and for many that became a certain spinning marsupial named Crash Bandicoot. From the same developers who would go on to create award winning franchises in Uncharted and The Last of Us, Crash Bandicoot not only helped put Naughty Dog on the gaming map but also a big part in the rise of PlayStation as a gaming brand. After PS4 fans got to enjoy this remastered collection it only made sense to spread the love over to both Nintendo Switch and Xbox One and the wait was definitely worth it

Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy is a remastered collection of the first three stand alone Crash games with his original game and two sequels Cortex Strikes back and Warped. For those not familiar with Crash, the first game tells the story of how evil scientist Dr Neo Cortex has been conducting genetic experiments on animals in order to use them to take over the world. However Crash escapes and Cortex immediately orders him to be hunted down before Crash can free his friends and in particular his girlfriend Coco. Gameplay will see Crash spinning his way to defeat enemies and smash crates in order to collect Wumpa fruits, extra lives and the brilliant Aku Aku masks which will grant Crash invincibility after collecting three of them. The first game really was an evolution in traditional side view platforming games with a fully 3D view of Crash with levels designed to make the player go on reactions and timing to get through the levels.

Visually this was impressive back in the day but the remastered has really brought the series kicking and screaming into current gen consoles and Crash is looking better then ever with his remake. I loved how the opening screens when you start the game up has a fun animation of old school Crash putting original crates into a machine for them to come out all modern and shiny looking before being very Crash and falling into the machine himself before popping out all super cute and fluffy looking. To see these original games looking so amazing good in this collection definitely puts a smile on my face. Levels are so vibrant and colourful that just taking a moment to absorb it all when you first starting playing the N Sane Trilogy will not be a waste of your time. Within minutes I was transported back to the same experience I had with the original games as the musical score and audio combined with the new visuals took me back in time to when I first fell in love with Crash. Vicarious Visions has done an incredible job in bringing this series back to life and better than ever.

Of course more than anything it is the gameplay that really made the Crash Bandicoot series stand out and boy it is just as unforgiving today as it was back in the 90s. Judgement and precise timing are key to getting through the levels as Crash has to jump over gaps, enemies and avoid traps to keep progressing. Thankfully the difficulty has not been tempered for this remastered collection and it is just as much of a challenge now as it was originally. Just taking the first level and boy did I misjudge those first jumps and was instantly reminded how tough 90s platformers really were. It is really all about finding the rhythm of the level to help with the speed and timing of jumps but you also have to try and find all the breakable crates on the level in order to 100% it and boy can it be vexing to find out you reached the end only to discover you missed a couple of crates on that run. Being 3D and having the camera so close to Crash is one of the reasons that helped it stand out from the standard side view that Sonic and Mario games used and even now it still works just as well as it did originally.

It is that faithful recreation of all the original aspects that made this series so loved that elevates this remastered collection above others because it sticks to what made it so iconic to begin with. Some tweaks have been made here and there but overall it is just like playing the originals albeit far prettier and filled with nostalgia satisfaction. Fan service is a big reason for loving this collection but the intelligent way in which more modern elements have been added just polishes this up even more such as Time trials and an updated checkpoint and save system. You can also play as Coco Bandicoot instead if you prefer and she behaves and plays exactly like Crash. With three games to work through there is just so much content to enjoy and it has that replayability boost from needed to beat your own performance on each level that just brings you back to it time and time again.

For me this is exactly why taking old school classics and rebuilding them for the current generations of consoles and player is so completely worth while. Some remasters simply rely on the nostalgia factor that some players will have for them only to have the original flaws shine through making such games best left in the past rather than trying to cash in on them again. But with Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy what you have is not only a return of a true instant classic in gaming but a celebration of the series that also serves a reminder that some game genres were simply just that good back in the day. With the Spyro the Dragon remastered collection out soon as well, these 90s classics really are showing what the more modern platformer games are missing.

This really is a must have in your collection for so many reasons and for those on both Nintendo Switch and Xbox One the wait has been long but worth it. This is a collection that has clearly been lovingly worked on to highlight the greatness of the series but with enough restraint to just focus on its core brilliance with just a sprinkle of more modern day gaming elements that boosts but doesn’t hinder the experience.

If you have yet to experience the joy and close to controller breaking testing of your patience than look no further. Crash Bandicoot is every bit the iconic gaming character he once was and thanks to the N Sane Trilogy, his legacy is now timeless.